The Scope of Office Furniture of the 21st Century

Gone are the days when setting up an office meant a few office desks and office chairs flanked by shelves and file cabinets that subject employees to almost torturous office environments that they generally prefer not to be in. Offices or work environments such as these normally cause employees to focus on the clock more than their work – they just want to get out of the office as soon as they can.

In the early 80’s employers began to observe that comfortable office environments actually motivated employees to be in the office and do more work and in the 90s ergonomic conditions became an important aspect of the office environment. Due to this reason there are a wide variety of factors that should be taken into account when establishing a new office environment for office employees of the 21st century and among these factors, the most important is office furniture.

The office furniture offered by employers to employees makes all the difference between keeping employees happy and comfortable throughout their work day or unsettled and miserable. High quality office furniture that are reasonably priced is what most employers look for due to obvious budget reasons which is understandable.

There are various affordable high quality ergonomic office chairs and office desks that are available in the market, however, buying office furniture that are ergonomically designed is not the ‘only factor’ that office managers should take into account when setting up the office albeit it is the most important element in an office space.

 There is the matter of aesthetics, the 21st century workforce demand that their work environment is also a pleasing environment aesthetically, therefore, wall colours, décor and arrangement are also as important as ergonomic office chairs, desks and equipment. The colour of the chairs and office tables should complement the walls and other decorative artefacts.

Coming back to ergonomic furniture, the choice of office furniture is a very critical factor as they are directly linked to the physical and mental wellbeing of employees, not to mention practical furniture that are ergonomic enhances the productivity level of employees significantly.

Ergonomic office chairs reduce stress and pressure on the back which is essential for individual to maintain good posture. Adjustable office chairs and tables are the preferred types of furniture by the 21st century workforce.

It is important for office managers to realize that the office chair is not a furniture item for employees to only sit on, it is the place where they work, think, make decisions and execute their duties and therefore the office chair is in fact an instrument that could help boost productivity for the business.

In contrast, poor quality office chairs eventually result in employees having back problems, stiff necks and these issues eventually have a negative impact on the quality of their work. In a worst case scenario, the employee might even consider leaving the company due to the built stress that initially started with poor quality office furniture.